More of a story of unintentional asshattery...I was practically drafted into the asshat position.

I was roaming around and happened by Opulent Temple, who happened to be playing something that sounded good at the moment. I decided to head into the crowd, found a decent spot, things were good. Well, the dust started blowing around in earnest, and a lot of people decided to leave. At the same time, a lot of people decided to plunge deeper into the crowd. For some reason, I was the focal point of this maelstrom. I was rather rudely buffeted around, feet stepped on, pushed aside, camelbak yanked and twisted in all directions, etc. I ended up probably 30 feet from where I was. Finally some relative peace and loudness, though still getting bumped from all sides.

Then I was grabbed and pushed to one side, continuously, hard. I turned around and found a ring of people cheering that the last asshat was out of the way, to allow someone in a wheelchair scooter to turn around and head for camp. So apparently I had been shoved in front of a wheelchair, become an asshat, then shoved away from the wheelchair...when if anyone had simply tapped my shoulder and pointed, I would have been the first person to run interference, ask people to move aside or even literally carry the disabled person out, chair and all.

So, yeah...left a pretty sour taste. Maybe I should have tried to look around me carefully as I was catapulted into new locations. But I suspect the real reason I was an asshat was going to Opulent Temple in the first place.

My wife puked at the base of the lamp post right outside of Thunderdome after fighting in the dome the night of the burn. In her defense she was sober but suffering from smoke inhalation and drinking too much water at once to stop the coughing. Still. I felt like crap knowing she was MOOPing that night's pasta and about a gallon of water right there.

I did not pick up all the moop I saw through the week. I got some of it, but there was too much and my moop bag just wasn't big enough. I will do better next year with a trash bag surgically attached to my hip.

Went to the cafe for coffee one morning and started getting seriously annoyed that the line next to me is going twice as fast. I look up at the counter and the guy has a broken arm in a sling. I roll my eyes and sigh but just go with it. As I get closer, I hear them doing their usual shtick where they ask people uncomfortable questions in order to label their cup so I'm already on edge wondering what the guy is going to ask me when I get there. As I get there he asks me what I want, it goes:

Me: (Nicely) "Can I have an iced Mocha"?Him: "I don't know, can you?"Me: (louder) "Give me an iced mocha!"Him: "You need to say the magic word"Me: (annoyed but smiling, I scream) "Give me a FUCKING iced mocha!!!!!!"Him: (eyes wide, looking kind of frightened) "Whoah man, you went way out into left field with that one"Me: (calmly) "Can I have an iced mocha please?"Him: (looking sideways at me) "Sure!"

OK, those are good enough to get me to share mine: I was out at Distrikt, got a little carried away and started barn dancing a bit. Apparently, I stepped on some barefooted guy's foot. He let me know this by stomping on my feet several times. I felt bad, I told him I was sorry, and I offered to gift him my boots. He declined the offer.

The camp with a differenceNever mind the weatherWhen you camp with Plug & PlyYour holiday's forever

I don't know if this qualifies as asshattery, but I was riding around on Thursday after MnG night looking for friends (yeah, good luck with finding them out there). I avoided hitting some other people on a bike, but collided with the back tire of someone else. After we got up I think I might have bent his back wheel. We were both apologizing and he said he was a burgin and it was his fault that he didn't have any light on his bike (which was true). I couldn't find any fingerlights on my body to give him, so I gave him an energy chew pack, and then unstrapped a light and fixed it to his tire so he'd be lit up. He said he'd be okay limping back to camp with his bent up wheel, which I hope he did.

Anyway, maybe not so much of an asshat, but I'm still sorry I bent up his wheel.

"The essence of tyranny is not iron law. It is capricious law." -- Christopher Hitchens

skippy3k wrote:My wife puked at the base of the lamp post right outside of Thunderdome after fighting in the dome the night of the burn. In her defense she was sober but suffering from smoke inhalation and drinking too much water at once to stop the coughing. Still. I felt like crap knowing she was MOOPing that night's pasta and about a gallon of water right there.

Lots of sober people puke after fighting in the dome...(and my campmate cleaned more than just her puke, and I had to clean human feces between two art cars... so, she wasn't the worst of it.)

skippy3k wrote:My wife puked at the base of the lamp post right outside of Thunderdome after fighting in the dome the night of the burn. In her defense she was sober but suffering from smoke inhalation and drinking too much water at once to stop the coughing. Still. I felt like crap knowing she was MOOPing that night's pasta and about a gallon of water right there.

Lots of sober people puke after fighting in the dome...(and my campmate cleaned more than just her puke, and I had to clean human feces between two art cars... so, she wasn't the worst of it.)

And to think so many people are in a tizzy about feather girl.

JKhttp://www.mudskippercafe.comWhen I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me.

On Sunday I had been exploring the deep Playa all afternoon and having a great time but it was getting dark and I was out of water. I was heading back to camp to replenish my water when I passed by Revofukinlution, they had a great beat going so I stopped for a minute to listen and watch all the beautiful people dance. I was talking to the bartender for a bit and asked him if I could have a drink of water. He must not have heard me exactly and asked if I had a cup ( I was expecting a bottle of water) I gave him my cup and he mixed a drink for me. I didn't want to refuse it because he was being very nice so I took it and it was delicious. I felt bad afterward though because I realized the whole scene seemed like I was just trying to get a free drink. I wasn't trying to be an asshat but it seemed to work out that way.

TT120: One thing I took away from my first year experience is that these kinds of misunderstandings are pretty easy to leave open-ended. You're not going to see them at work the next day and clear it up...you're not going to stop by during their next shift and apologize. Chaos rules, and if you don't seize the opportunity to make amends right away, you may never have the chance to soothe your own conscience later. We are used to living inside a bubble of familiar places and people. Burning Man felt warm and easy to create connections with people, but there was a chill of anonymity. The reality that if you don't create a connection with this person right away, you will very likely never see them again in your life.

Yelled at posing Shaman dancing around the Anubis flames to do something productive and throw some wood in the fire.(I mean, there were like 20 fire worshippers, yet there was this 2X4 sitting there they're tripping over, and none think to throw it in the fricken fire.)

Looked at lots and lots of women, and some men, while pretending not to.

Shouted "Stand Up ! Stand Up !" at the burns, even though I was sitting.

you know, the burn night.... when everyone is high (figuratively), dancing, having fun? After the man burn, I borrowed my friend's camp chair and sat comfortably next to our art car. I am sorry (not really) I looked so comfortable when you were dancing next to the octopus and robot heart.

I insisted on joining my friends in their adventures, which -- due to my leg-breaking adventures earlier in the summer -- meant they had to slow down (waaaay the fuck down) and wait for me while I crutched through soft playa and took many breath-catching breaks. Eventually, I smartened up and stopped trying to tag along so much, but I probably should have done that sooner.

On burn night, we all went out to the playa together. My partner brought chairs for me and him, and we set them down in the near playa and watched from their. Our friends continued onwards and watched from a closer position. Later, they collected us on their way back to camp, and we all travelled back (at crutching pace) together. Once we arrived, my partner sent them off on their way to continue the night's festivities while he and I stayed in camp. Realistically, I was way too tired and cold (I had worked up a sweat with the crutching, and that sweat had turned to ice water as soon as I rested) to go out and celebrate. But instead of being thankful to my partner for staying at camp and keeping me company, I wasted energy and emotions feeling sorry for myself that I was missing things. Extra asshatish of me, given that I was missing things as a consequence of my own daredevilry, and he was missing things solely out of love for me.

Perhaps my username should be catintheasshat.

If you want drama to stop following you everywhere, try letting go of the leash.

I know I get snippy, so I'm likely an asshat in someone's book. I was a complete and intentional asshat to the sawhorse crushing Idaho blisspony, but that was absofuckinglutely an educational opportunity.

I left my bumperstickers on the table and someone had to take them home or toss them out. Sorry!

My hubby and I met some really awesome people outside the potties. They were trying to do something, and I had a light so we helped. They then gave us a super awesome Texas coozie, some whiskey, and some refreshments. We hung out with them for a while, but got separated. We never got to say thanks or find out who they were. I hope they didn't think we just wanted their goodies. If they're out there, you guys rock and we made it back to camp okay.

i was planning on camping pretty much on my own in the camp, well that came to a screetching hault at midnight on arival trying to set my tent up on street front property of G with winds from the left over dust storm of sunday. I was lucky and tink took me in. Im a bit of a ferret as it was my first bm so my little corner of the shade structure was a mess of clothes and medical fix me ups. I did try. also being my first time and was going with a no cooler theme i only brought enough for 2 bags of ice to top off my water at the end of the week so i did not have a ton of money to pitch in for ice for our 3 massive coolers and was planning on tossing what little trash i had at the hotel when i got back into reno so had to wait till we got to civilization to pull from the atm. i guess not a totally asshat act but i had not planned to camp with any one so lession for next year... much larger back up fund and cash on hand!! i still feel like one though and will be sending some nice stuff to tink when the next pay check comes in. she was an awesome camp mom and taught me soooo much!

maladroit- Burning Man is like a second job, except you pay to work there.Burning Man is just the pre party for exodus! - fellow burner during exodus

You guys are tame.One night, I was getting so annoyed by people with handheld lasers pointing them at crowds (those things are not the laser pointers you see in offices, those are much stronger and can cause injuries). So I gave one poor laser pointer owner an unfriendly lecture about the stupidity of his behavior and a free demonstration of the approximate effects using his eye and my (not so weak) flash light. His girlfriend did the right thing and pulled him away from me.

Repeat after me: being a danger to other people's health is not radical self-expression.

stew wrote:You guys are tame.One night, I was getting so annoyed by people with handheld lasers pointing them at crowds (those things are not the laser pointers you see in offices, those are much stronger and can cause injuries). So I gave one poor laser pointer owner an unfriendly lecture about the stupidity of his behavior and a free demonstration of the approximate effects using his eye and my (not so weak) flash light. His girlfriend did the right thing and pulled him away from me.

Repeat after me: being a danger to other people's health is not radical self-expression.

catinthefunnyhat wrote:I insisted on joining my friends in their adventures, which -- due to my leg-breaking adventures earlier in the summer -- meant they had to slow down (waaaay the fuck down) and wait for me while I crutched through soft playa and took many breath-catching breaks. Eventually, I smartened up and stopped trying to tag along so much, but I probably should have done that sooner.

On burn night, we all went out to the playa together. My partner brought chairs for me and him, and we set them down in the near playa and watched from their. Our friends continued onwards and watched from a closer position. Later, they collected us on their way back to camp, and we all travelled back (at crutching pace) together. Once we arrived, my partner sent them off on their way to continue the night's festivities while he and I stayed in camp. Realistically, I was way too tired and cold (I had worked up a sweat with the crutching, and that sweat had turned to ice water as soon as I rested) to go out and celebrate. But instead of being thankful to my partner for staying at camp and keeping me company, I wasted energy and emotions feeling sorry for myself that I was missing things. Extra asshatish of me, given that I was missing things as a consequence of my own daredevilry, and he was missing things solely out of love for me.

I laughed at the poor newbie when he rode his bike through and crashed on a very wet spot of playa where someone had dumped a large amount of water. I told him he can put that on the list of bad ideas as I pedaled past him laughing. I should have stopped to help him scrape the sticky playa off his wheels.

“And he didn't get tired or sleepy, for the beauty burned in him like fire.”― John Steinbeck

Spadge63 wrote:I laughed at the poor newbie when he rode his bike through and crashed on a very wet spot of playa where someone had dumped a large amount of water. I told him he can put that on the list of bad ideas as I pedaled past him laughing. I should have stopped to help him scrape the sticky playa off his wheels.

there's not much more entertaining, than watching folks, with fenders in their bikes, follow a water truck.......they'll see fenderless bikes going and follow......and when I say, "I'd ride on the dry part" they look at me like "what"?